Boyfriend's niece and ex SIL

My boyfriend’s brother got divorced around a year ago. He has a 16 year old daughter. My boyfriend and I are fairly close to her and we talk quite a bit. I am concerned about a few things. A few months ago her mom dated a guy who was 22. They broke up but my boyfriend’s niece and him have maintained a friendship. According to her they go out to eat and to movies. He even comes over to their apartment and they watch tv and hang out. To me that’s kind of weird. She says that her mom has no problem with this so called friendship. She also says that her mom brings home a lot of guys that she meets. My boyfriend and I have discussed this with his brother and he didn’t seem overly concerned. He said that his daughter over exaggerates everything. I just don’t know what to think. Her mom won’t talk to anyone in my boyfriend’s family about anything.

It’s never good for divorced parents to introduce a bunch of casual partners to their kids… Hopefully nothing fishy is going on, it’s one of those situations that sounds iffy but could easily be totally innocuos. I’m not sure what you could say though that the mom would want to listen to. I’d just try to keep in touch with the daughter and let her know she can confide in you if anything is going on.

@Kacey23: This really bothers me on a personal level because I was friends with a girl whose mom basically told this guy that he could have his way with her daughter and she didn’t care. Now, the girl was 18 but she was mentally handicapped and basically had the mind and cognitive functioning of an eight year old. She could not legally say yes or no to sex, so this mom basically gave this guy the green light to rape her daughter!

I’m not at all saying this is what’s happening here (my best friend since I was 15 was 4 years older than me, but then she’s also a girl), but I would definitely be concerned and I’m amazed the father isn’t. Still, unfortunately, you and your SO ultimately have no say in this. I’m not sure what you can do other than be an open ear (maybe she’ll tell you if these guys ever act inappropriately or make her uncomfortable).